September 09, 2007

Your Challenge -- find breakthroughs to sell your services

A friend of mine really liked the last post on channels and how to grow your business faster. One thing didn’t seem to add up to her. She said, “This analysis seems like it would kill any new idea or new channel from getting a real chance to succeed versus your channels that are up and running.” She’s right, it could. Don't let it.

Having a good framework to know which channels are performing and making them work harder for you is paramount to any fast growing business. For those that do optimize existing channels, some may find it difficult to take a chance on a new way to sell. It may seem impossible to justify, and it will feel risky.

Take smart risks as much as you can!

You need to try new things. You don’t have to invest a lot to determine if a new channel can work. Take a serious look at new channels and compare them alongside your current channels. Why? It gets you to think what is realistic to expect and what it will take for the channel to succeed. What seems reasonable given how your other channels perform? Are there other companies you see doing this successfully? (If so, reach out to the company, learn it, and try it.)

And probably more important -- does it just make sense to try it? It’s like investing. You want 90% of your savings in an appropriate asset allocation that you are confident will work over time. The other 10% you want to take chances and see if you can grow your money faster.

Many Small Breakthroughs are Better than One Big Breakthrough

When I test a new channel, I test as many aspects of it as I can afford and that is usually a lot less than I’d like. I’m a test hound. If I can find one test cell that works, I’ve just found a new lead or sales stream to accelerate growth and profitably. You’ll occasionally find one big breakthrough. More often than not, you’ll find several small breakthroughs that in sum total are “the” big breakthrough. And the great thing about having many smaller ones is you have a more stable business. If one leg of the table is taken out, you still have 10 others to stand on and keep you business headed north.